In case you didn't know, I'm Greek-Scottish -- which means I love all things shortbread and cookie-related. This recipe is my vegan take on kourabiethes (κουραμπιέδες), which are deliciously nutty cookies similar to Mexican Wedding Cookies, Russian Tea Cakes, Viennese Crescents, Snowballs, and so on. I used to love getting these every year around the holidays from authentic Greek bakeries, and I am SO happy I was able to come up with a recipe I am equally excited about. In my humble opinion these taste even better than anything I remember!

In a separate bowl, beat together the vegan butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, flax egg, brandy and orange zest with a hand mixer or standing mixer until light and fluffy. On its own, this should already taste like heaven.

Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet until combined into a stunningly beautiful dough. I know I always say this, but this is easily the tastiest dough I've ever made.

On the baking sheet lined with parchment paper, scoop out equal sized balls of dough. You can leave them in snowball shapes, or for an authentically fancy effect you can pinch the ends and indent the middle with your thumb to make crescent shapes.

Bake them for about 18 minutes until they are set and have a slightly golden color on the bottom.

Remove them from the pan while they are still warm and roll them in some powdered sugar until coated. Bring them to your next gathering to impress everyone with your culinary prowess, or eat them all yourself (no judgement). Enjoy!